Who Owns the Sky?

I taught the first class of my Law & Technology Seminar today, and I used Stuart Banner’s terrific book on Who Owns the Sky? If you haven’t read this, you really should. He discusses how the law responded to the invention of airplanes, with respect to the rights of property owners, sovereign rights over airspace, and other issues. In part, it’s refreshing to read a book about a problem that was solved (and seems obvious now) but was not at the time. (My favorite example was the guy who argued that planes should just fly over roads and public lands, then there would be no trespass issues.)